Transport - Rail station survey reveals unhappy passengers

23rd November 2004

Jonathan Djanogly today revealed the results of his survey of commuters using local rail services, which has revealed significant concerns on rail security, connections, cleanliness and disabled access.

Jonathan Djanogly, MP for Huntingdon, today revealed the results of his survey of commuters using local rail services, which has revealed significant concerns on rail security, connections, cleanliness and disabled access.

The survey reveals that:

86% of commuters found security on trains and in stations to be adequate or poor;

57% saw information during delays and cancellations to be inadequate;

54% believe the provision of car parking to be poor or very poor;

41% of those who completed the survey felt that access for disabled people is poor;

66% felt that connections with bus services are poor; and

70% felt that there was poor provision of hand rails for those passengers who are forced to stand on their journeys.

The lack of parking facilities at St Neots Station is of particular concern to many passengers.

On the positive side, certain elements of rail services received a better response: 49% of those completing the survey felt that the attitude of staff was good and 41% felt that punctuality of trains was good, although 53% felt that the ticket price represented poor value for money.

Mr Djanogly said:

"I wanted to understand better the concerns of commuters from Huntingdon and St Neots Stations. Although I would not claim that my survey was conducted scientifically, there is certainly cause for concern, on even basic issues such as cleanliness of trains. On the whole, the figures show that people, at best, think the overall standard of service is either barely adequate or poor.

This Government has made encouraging people to use public transport one of its goals, but it is clearly failing. The Government seem intent on victimising car drivers - but they are not improving the alternatives for commuters.

I shall be writing to WAGN with a copy of the survey results and specific complaints I have received on the service and asking them to inform me how they intend to address my constituents' concerns.

Several of the basic elements of rail services appear to be inadequate and Huntingdon and St Neots commuters deserve better."

Notes

Surveys were offered to all incoming commuters at St Neots and Huntingdon Stations on two evenings in October."